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Fayetteville Shale Arkansas

The Fayetteville Shale is located in north central Arkansas within the central portion of the Arkoma Basin. There are currently about 2.5 million acres leased in the Fayetteville Shale gas play. This Mississippian-aged shale is considered the geological equivalent of the Barnett Shale in north Texas. Like other shale plays within the U.S., vertical wells were the first type of wells drilled, now giving way to horizontal drilling which produces better overall development economics. Take away capacity for natural gas is a significant issue which is being addressed by construction of Boardwalk’s Fayetteville Lateral and the Fayetteville Express Pipeline.

Fayetteville Shale Companies

Significant producers within the Fayetteville Shale are:

Alta Operating

Aspect Energy

Chesapeake Energy

Edge Petroleum

Hallwood Energy

KCS Resources

One TEC Operating

Petrohawk

Seeco

Southwest Energy Co.

Tepee Petroleum

XTO Energy

Fayetteville Shale Geology

The Fayetteville Shale is a Mississippian age rock that lies as deep as 7,000 feet below the surface within the central portion of the Arkoma Basin. The thickness of the Fayetteville Shale varies from around 50-75 feet in western Arkansas to approximately 300 feet in the eastern Arkoma Basin – and it exceeds 1,000 feet in some portions of the Mississippi Embayment. Horizontal drilling combined with hydraulic fracturing maximizes connectivity with the naturally occurring fractures within the formation, resulting in significant improvement to production rates.

Fayetteville Shale Location

The Fayetteville Shale is located in the following counties of Arkansas: